Medjugorje is located in the
former Yugoslavia. It is a small mountain village in the region of Bosnia,
Herzegovina. This true story takes place in the Bijakovici section of
Medjugorje.

On the afternoon of June 24,
1981, two girls, Ivanka Ivankovic age 15, and Mirjana Dragicevic age 16, were
returning home from a walk. Looking toward the hill called Crnica, Ivanka saw a
bright silhouette of a woman. She said to Mirjana, "It is the Gospa!" (Our Lady)

On June 25, the two girls
returned to the hill with four others. Their names are, Vicka Ivankovic age 16,
Ivan Dragivevic age 16, Maria Pavlovic age 16 and Jakov Colo age 10.

A figure in white was calling
them to come up the hill. The children were somehow transported in some
mysterious way to a beautiful Lady who calls herself, the Queen of Peace.

The Lady gives messages to
the seers for the whole world. To date The Queen of Peace has left thousands of
messages. At first the messages were almost daily. Now for the past several
years they come on the 25th of each month.

Though there are thousands of
messages, there are 6 primary ones. The basic messages consist of, conversion,
prayer, fasting, faith, peace and reconciliation.

The six seers are also
receiving ten secrets each. The secrets are of future chastisements because of
sin. The visionaries say the 10 secrets will remain secrets until an appointed
time. Only the visionaries know the day and time the messages will be revealed.

The secrets will be released
to the world one at a time through a priest, (now chosen.) Prior to each
chastisement, the priest will receive a parchment. He will not be able to read
the parchment except with much prayer, fasting, and help from the Lady. The
messages about chastisements will be announced to the world three days before
the event is to take place.

Ivanka, Mirjana and Jokov
have received all ten secrets, they no longer see the Lady except on special
occasions. The remaining visionaries have each received 9 of the 10 secrets, and
they still see the Lady almost every day.

In an interview with Vicka on
September 8, 1988, she described the first apparitions of the Lady. Here is the
interview.

The first day, Ivanka and
Mirjana went for a walk because we sometimes went for walks on that road. In the
afternoon when I got up and went and I followed them. As I approached them Milka,
sister of Mirjana, called to hurry.

I thought that they were
looking at something on the road, maybe a snake. From a distance it seemed to me
that they were looking on the road, not at the hill, but when I came close they
were saying, "Ma, Vicka, Gospa." Which means: "look, Vicka, there is Our Lady."
"What do you mean Our Lady?" was my reaction. I turned quickly, threw away my
shoes and ran back home straight away. I mean I ran away.

At that moment Ivan came
along. I said, "Ivan, they are claiming that they see Our Lady. We do not have
to see but at least let us go closer." Ivan, who was carrying some apples said,
"Lets go." He was full of courage by saying that we would go, but as we drew
nearer to them I turned around, and Ivan had run away. He was not there and I
was alone.

At that moment I was alone
and I could not go back or forward. Something stronger kept me there and then,
my God, they were calling me, "Come Vicka, come." They asked me to come closer.
I was afraid. I must not even look at them especially not at the hill where Our
Lady was. While I was standing there at the spot wondering where I would go,
suddenly something very strong possessed me and in a moment I was beside them.
When I came close to them I did not at first look straight to the hill. They
were telling me, "Come on Vicka, look, Our Lady is waving at us, while keeping
something in her hand." I was afraid. I was afraid to look towards the hill.
Then suddenly, maybe with the grace of God, I looked at the hill, and Our Lady
was there in front of us.

There are no words for man to
describe that day. It was happiness because I saw Our Lady but still we are all
human and I wondered if she would come tomorrow.

On the second day in the
afternoon the three of us, myself, Mirjana and Ivanka went walking. We said that
we would go and see if our Lady was coming. We expected to see Her but still
wondering if She would come. We went along the same road to the same spot as the
previous day. Ivanka was again first to see Our Lady.

I returned home to bring
Marija and Jakov because after the first day they asked me, "Vicka, if you see
Our Lady, come and get us. We do not have to see her but we would like to be
with you." So I went to bring the two of them but they were already on their way
to the hill.

We had nothing on our feet
and it seemed that we were not walking on the ground but gliding above it.
Suddenly we found ourselves at the apparition site. On that second day those who
were not so shy could ask questions but mostly we were praying with the Lady.

On the third day I took a
glass of holy water and sprinkled it at Our Lady, I said, "If you are Our Lady,
stay with us but if you are not, leave us alone." The Lady smiled, and the water
which I threw just flowed off her dress.